By Park Jae-hyukJINCHEON, North Chungcheong Province ― Hanwha Q CELLS Korea is bracing for deteriorating business conditions at home and abroad amid the prolonged solar panel supply glut caused mainly by Chinese makers, the company said Tuesday.In addition, U.S. safeguard duties of up to 30 percent on imports of solar cells and modules and Europe's decision to scrap import controls on Chinese solar panels have made things worse for the solar cell manufacturing unit of Hanwha Group.During a press conference at its main factory here, Tuesday, the company said the size of the global solar product market this year will be smaller than the initial expectation of IHS Markit, a London-based global information provider."The size of the global solar product market will be smaller than 104 gigawatts this year," said Yoon Joo, head of global sales planning at Hanwha Q CELLS. "Although the market will continue its growth, the growth rate will be sluggish due to the safeguard and several other unfavorable factors."The U.S. government will impose tariffs on solar cells and modules imported from almost all over the world, except some products from several developing countries. The rate will be 30 percent in the first year, and will go down by 5 percent every year thereafter.Yoon said his company has suffered damages from Washington's measure as it also has a factory in China, the country engaging in a trade war with the world's largest economy.He cited China cutting subsidies to solar power generation as another reason for the market decline.Expecting the market will undergo severe restructuring until 2020, the executive said only a few companies with efficient business structures will survive until then.To show the company's efforts to survive as a market leader with high efficiency, Hanwha Q CELLS Korea proudly unveiled its smart factory to local news outlets that day.Inside the factory was an automated production line that was busy producing solar cells with wafers. Hanwha Q CELLS Korea said the manufacturing facility produces 2.2 million solar cells a day.President Moon Jae-in visited the factory in February, praising Hanwha for creating jobs with the factory.However, the automated factory needs only 55 workers for each shift, according to Hanwha Q CELLS Korea.Moreover, Hanwha Q CELLS Korea will open a new solar module manufacturing plant in Georgia in the first half of 2019 to cope with U.S. protectionist policies.The company's plan to build the U.S. factory was criticized by lawmakers, who regard it as an example of the exodus of Korean manufacturers.